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A major milestone for steppe restoration was reached as a group of globally endangered kulans (Asiatic wild ass) were released from the “Alibi” Reintroduction Center into the vast landscapes of the Altyn Dala State Reserve in Central Kazakhstan. Their move into the wild from the acclimatization enclosure, where they had been for one year, was called a “soft release” taking place over several days, with the animals leaving the acclimatization enclosure in small groups, between August 25th and 27th, 2025. Multiple kulans carry GPS collars and newly introduced solar-powered GPS ear tags, which are now providing valuable insights into their movements across the steppe.

Bats are nocturnal hunters and use echolocation to orientate themselves by emitting high-frequency ultrasonic sounds in rapid succession and evaluating the calls’ reflections. Yet, they have retained a functional vision for light in the spectrum visible to humans. Scientists have now used miniature light, ultrasound and motion sensors to show that common noctule bats emit fewer echolocation calls when hunting insects in lit environments, but at the same time catch their prey 50 percent faster than in dark surroundings. This suggests that bats combine acoustic and visual information to catch escaping prey during split-second interactions when, the team elaborates in the scientific journal “PNAS”.

Mortalities at poisoned carcasses significantly contribute to the population decline of many vulture species. As vultures employ social strategies and follow each other in their search for food, one poisoned carcass can kill hundreds of individuals of endangered species such as the white-backed vulture. Scientists from the GAIA Initiative at the Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research (Leibniz-IZW) have now shown that tagging vultures allows for an early detection of poisoning events and for the carcass to be removed. In an article in the „Journal of Applied Ecology“, they demonstrate in a theoretical model that equipping 5 percent of vultures in a population with a tag could prevent 45 percent of further mortalities.

August 25, 2025 – The international BioRescue consortium has entered new grounds in its mission to save the northern white rhinoceros (NWR, Ceratotherium simum cottoni) from extinction. Since the beginning of the year, it has produced three additional northern white rhino embryos. Also, it initiated embryo transfers during which pure NWR embryos are transferred to surrogate southern white rhino mothers. With only two surviving NWR females – Najin and her daughter Fatu – both unable to carry a pregnancy naturally, BioRescue is using cutting-edge assisted reproduction and stem cell technologies to restore the species.

Movement ecologists study how animals move in ecosystems together with other individuals of the same or other species. When animals appear to move together, ecologists often assume they’re interacting, e.g. a predator follows prey, or social animals follow each other. A new study by a team of scientists from the Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research (Leibniz-IZW), Technische Universität Berlin, and the University of Potsdam suggests that’s not necessarily the case: Through movement simulations in various modelled landscapes they found they may not be interacting but rather responding independently to same physical environment.

Many bat species native to Germany, such as the Leisler's bat, are forest specialists. However, as it is becoming increasingly hard for them to find tree hollows in forest plantations, so they are moving to settlements instead. Using high-resolution GPS data from bats, a team led by scientists from the Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research (Leibniz-IZW) has analysed in greater detail than ever before how Leisler's bats use their habitats, which tree species they look for when searching a roost, and which forest types they avoid. They found that these bats increasingly seek refuge in old trees in urban areas and in old buildings such as churches. In an article published in the “Journal of Environmental Management”, the team calls for stronger efforts to preserve these alternative roosts in settlements, as well as for ecologically sustainable forestry that protects old trees and promotes structurally rich forests.

African elephants are the largest land animals on earth and significantly larger than their relatives in Asia, from which they are separated by millions of years of evolution. Nevertheless, Asian elephants have a 20 percent heavier brain, as scientists from Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin and the Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research (Leibniz-IZW) were able to demonstrate together with international colleagues. They also showed that elephant brains­ triple in weight after birth. These results, published in the scientific journal “PNAS Nexus”, provide potential explanations for behavioural differences between African and Asian elephants as well as for the pachyderms' long youth, during which they gain enormous experience and learn social skills.

Together, or not together, that is the question. Hamlet is not the only one facing life-changing questions – wild animals have to make decisions pivotal to their survival on a daily basis. In a modelling case study, scientists of the GAIA Initiative investigated whether exchange of information among African white-backed vultures (Gyps africanus) bring more advantages than disadvantages to the individual vulture in its search for food. They found that social foraging strategies are overall more beneficial than non-social strategies, but that environmental conditions such as vulture and carcass densities greatly influence which strategy yields the best results.

The ambient temperature has a profound impact on the physiology and behaviour of most species. In regions where individuals rely on low temperatures to hibernate effectively, global warming is likely to significantly affect their survival. A team of scientists studied how ambient temperatures shape the energy expenditure of common noctule bats and built a model to predict at which latitudes they could survive hibernation. This model also predicts how the hibernation areas of these bats could change over time. It accurately tracks the northward range shift of this species over the past 50 years and shows a further northeast expansion of up to 14 percent of its current range by 2100 – driven by shorter and warmer winters in Europe.

According to his family, the veterinarian scientist Prof Dr Reinhold R Hofmann passed away on 30 March 2025 at the age of 92. Hofmann worked at Justus Liebig University Giessen (JLU), in Kenya, the USA and finally back at JLU. In 1992, Hofmann was appointed as founding director of the Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research (Leibniz-IZW) in Berlin and the first professor for Interdisciplinary Zoo and Wildlife Science in Germany at the Freie Universität Berlin. He headed the Leibniz-IZW until his retirement at the end of 1999.